Timeline: Tube shooting

As leaked documents appear to throw new light on the mistaken shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, BBC News Website looks at the passage of events leading up to and in the days after his shooting.

21 July: Two weeks after suicide bombs rocked London, the capital is again targeted.

London's transport network is plunged into chaos with stations cleared after attempted bombings on Tube trains at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush Underground stations and on a number 26 bus in Bethnal Green.

A manhunt is launched for four men suspected of attempting the bombings, later named as Yassin Hassan Omar, Ibrahim Muktar Said, Ramzi Mohamed and Hussain Osman.

22 July: Police have been monitoring a flat in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, south London, which they believe is linked to the failed bombings.

At 0930 BST Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, is seen walking to a bus stop and boarding a bus heading to Stockwell Tube station.

According to a leaked report officers believe his "description and demeanour" matches one of two terror suspects, including the alleged Shepherd's Bush would-be bomber Hussain Osman.

One surveillance officer at the Tulse Hill address says he "checked the photographs" and thinks it is "worth someone else having a look".

He is quoted in the leaked report saying that he was unable to transmit his observations and turn on his video camera at the same time. "I was in the process of relieving myself."

One eyewitness widely quoted on the day, Christopher Wells, describes the suspect vaulting over ticket barriers, pursued by police.

But the leaked evidence suggests he picked up a free newspaper and slowly descended on an escalator.

The BBC has learned that there was a shortage of CCTV footage for the incident as discs for the cameras had been removed the previous day by officers investigating the 21 July attacks, and not replaced.

Interviewed by a newspaper a week after the shooting, Mr Wells says the person he saw hurdling the barriers must have been a police officer.

Another witness, Mark Whitby, told BBC News on the day that he had seen the victim run onto the train pursued by three men, that he had half-tripped getting onto the carriage, been pushed to the floor and then shot.

But the leaked documents say Mr Menezes ran across the concourse to catch a train, boarded, looked left and right and then sat down on the first available seat.

Mr Whitby also suggested Mr Menezes was wearing a padded jacket, despite the warm weather, while the leaked papers suggest the Brazilian was wearing a light denim jacket.

A photo of Mr Menezes body was also among the leaked documents. It does not show a heavy jacket.

Following shouts including the word "police", Mr Menezes gets up and advances towards the CO19 officers, a surveillance officer is quoted to have said.

A member of the surveillance team describes grabbing him and holding him down.

According to the report, he said: "I grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side.

ITV images show Mr de Menezes lying dead in a Tube train

"I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting... I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away on to the floor of the carriage."

Mr Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, according to the post-mortem examination.

Three other bullets missed their target.

By 1050 BST news of the shooting breaks in the media.

Reports emerge that a suspected suicide bomber has been shot at Stockwell Tube.

Many of the mistaken eyewitness accounts are now circulating in the media.

At 1150 BST Scotland Yard confirms that the man shot at Stockwell station died at the scene.

During the morning, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair writes to the permanent secretary at the Home Office, in the belief that the dead man is linked to the attacks. The letter is copied to the head of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the IPCC.

Sir Ian says it is crucial that the anti-terrorism investigation takes precedence over the investigation by the IPCC into the killing.

There are discussions later in the day, where it is decided that the Met will transfer the shooting inquiry to the IPCC on the Monday, 25 July.

The IPCC later describes this as an "important victory".

At 1600 BST Sir Ian says during a press conference that the shooting was "directly linked" to anti-terror operations.

He goes on to say: "As I understand the situation the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions."

Scotland Yard releases a statement which includes the line: "His clothing and his behaviour at the station added to their suspicions."

Nothing in the leaked documents seems to explain any of these suspicions.

23 July: At 1700 BST Scotland Yard says the victim was not connected to attempted terror attacks on the capital. Sir Ian later says he only learned this that morning.

A spokeswoman said: "For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan
Police Service regrets."

It is announced that the death is being investigated by officers from the Metropolitan Police Directorate of Professional Standards and will be referred
to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

At 2130 BST Scotland Yard confirms the identity of the victim.

25 July: At 1030 BST Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair apologises to Mr Menezes' family but says there will be no change to the police's "shoot-to-kill" policy.

That afternoon Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is "desperately sorry" about the death of an innocent person.

An inquest in London hears Mr Menezes was shot eight times.

The IPCC assumes responsibility for the shooting investigation.

26 July: Protests are staged in Mr Menezes' home town of Gonzaga, Brazil, in anger at his shooting. They demand arrests are made.

27 July: Four cousins of Mr Menezes hold a press conference in London demanding an end to the "shoot-to-kill" policy.

One of them Vivien Figueiredo, says she has been told by police her relative was wearing a denim jacket at the time of the shooting and had used his travel card to get through the station.

Scotland Yard offers no confirmation of these claims.

The IPCC completes the formal handover of the investigation from the Metropolitan Police, five days after the incident.

28 July: Mr Menezes' body is flown home to south-eastern Brazil.

The Home Office announces his visa expired two years ago, a move which is later criticised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

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